Pre season match reports – Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th

In addition to the 5th team friendly on Saturday, there were two other pre season games across the weekend

Friendly XI in action on Sunday

Sunday saw a combined 2/3/4th XI team take on Wedmore CC on the East Ground. Wedmore won the toss and opted to bat first, and Weston’s opening bowlers Georgia Tulip (2-18) and Tahmid Ahmed (4-30) bowled excellent opening spells, with the batsman struggling to get them away. They were well supported by spinners Bayley Frise (2-46) and George Bemand (1-27) who along with Terry Horler (0-45) kept things tight in the middle overs. A good innings from Patch (66) kept the batting team ticking along, and they eventually finished on 188-9 from their 40 overs.

The response started poorly, with Chris Pack (8) out early, but an excellent partnership of 123 between Josh Knight (94*) and Fin Mayo (49), who put the bad balls away and rotated the strike well, took Weston to the brink of victory. A couple of wickets them fell in quick succession, but the home team cruised home to win by 7 wickets.

A good workout for all the players on both teams ahead of the start of the league season on May 5th. Forte Financial Player of the Match went to Josh Knight for his runs.

Friendly XI in action on Saturday

Saturday’s game saw a mixture of 1st and 2nd team players travel to Bridgwater CC for a 40 over friendly. The home team batted first, but Tom Court (5-41) bowled an excellent opening spell, taking three early wickets, including two good catches behind the stumps by Ben Gully, to reduce the batting team to 32-3. Chris Davidson (1-27) bowled an economical spell, and Bridgwater found themselves struggling with just 136 on the board when the sixth wicket fell. But strong hitting from Skidmore (83) meant they finished strong, eventually reaching 237 all out, with Court taking his fifth wicket with the final ball of the innings. Tom Chambers (2-45) and Shabel Ahmed (1-32) also got some valuable overs under their belt ahead of the start of the league season this Saturday.

The 2nd innings saw Luke Morgan (17) and Shabel Ahmed (8) started well against some good home team bowling, but Ahmed was unluckily run out backing up. After Morgan and Gully (9) were both out, the innings quickly subsided, with the batsman succumbing to accurate bowling from the whole home team attack. Young Alex Leeks (10) battled hard, but Weston finished all out for 68.

A good workout despite the result for the players, especially in the field and for the bowlers. Forte Financial Player of the Match goes to Tom Court for his five wickets.